December 4, 2008 - Russia's Duma (the Duma in the Russian Empire and Russian Federation corresponds to the lower house of the parliament) on Wednesday, December 3, 2008 approved legislation to lower tar and nicotine content in cigarettes and to place large health warnings on the packs. The legislation, which still must be approved by the upper house and signed by the president before taking effect, allows cigarette makers to continue to identify some brands as "light" or "low-tar."

The measure calls for the maximum amounts of tar and nicotine in cigarettes to be reduced by 15-20 percent and for health warnings to be no smaller than 30 percent of the pack's surface, a substantial increase from their current size.

The World Health Organization's tobacco control agreement has urged that such terms be prohibited, but the guidelines are not mandatory. Japan also has allowed the language to remain on cigarette packs.

Euromonitor - Tobacco in Russia. Russia is the world’s third-biggest tobacco market, behind China, with 1.6 trillion cigarettes, and the United States, with 400 billion. It has an annual consumption of about 315 billion cigarettes. British consumption is about 57 billion cigarettes. (BAT plans to beat Philip Morris with Russian post deal, TimesOnline, 11/24/2005)